A display panel has been known which uses an organic electroluminescence element (hereinafter referred to as "organic EL element) which passes a current through a fluorescent body formed on a glass plate or a transparent organic film to emit light. The organic EL element, as shown in FIG. 4, includes an organic layer 2 comprising a plurality of transparent electrodes of ITO, a conductive high polymer layer 104 for improving reliability, an organic EL layer 3 comprising a hole transporting layer and a light emitting layer, and a cathode layer 1 comprising a plurality of metallic electrodes intersecting the anode layer 2. These layers are successively stacked on a transparent substrate 6 of glass or the like. The anode layer 2 and cathode layer 1, between which the organic EL layer 3 intervenes and which are opposite to each other to form a couple, constitutes a light emitting portion serving as an organic EL layer 3. An intersecting region where each of the transparent electrodes of the anode layer 2 and each of the metallic electrodes of the cathode layer 1 are opposite to intersect constitutes a pixel of one unit.
As the cathode 1, a metal having a small work function such as an alloy of Al, In, Ag, etc. (e.g. Al-Li alloy) is used. As the anode layer 2, a conductive material having a large work function of ITO (work function of ITO=about 0.5 eV) or gold (work function of Au=about 5.1 eV) is used. When gold is used as an electrode material, the electrode is made semi-transparent.
As the high polymer layer 104, polyaniline is used. Improvement of reliability in the conductive high polymer layer is disclosed in JP-A-9-45479. (The term "JP-A" as herein means "unexamined published Japanese patent application".)
When the technique for improving reliability by the conductive high polymer layer is adopted for a display panel having a structure where an anode and cathode are divided into plural regions, such as a dot matrix, because the resistance of the conductive high polymer layer is low, the adjacent anode regions are electrically connected to each other and hence crosstalk occurs. Namely, even when a current is not passed through the anode in order that the pixel on a certain anode does not emit light, the current flows from the adjacent anode because the electric resistance of the high polymer layer is low. Thus, the pixel which should not emit light will emit light. As a result, a desired image cannot be obtained.